Asbestos is a fibrous material most commonly used for its heat-resistant properties. It was commonly used in housing insulation until its astonishingly destructive effects on human lungs were known. The use of asbestos in housing is now banned, but it is still quite common in laboratory hot pads, as well as in concrete industrial buildings where the risk of it getting into the air is minimal.

The comic depicts a common advertising trick taken to an absurd extreme; quite clearly all of the cereal products depicted are asbestos-free, but most have opted not to advertise the fact because it should be obvious. A more realistic example can be found in confectionery products, wherein the term "fat free" might be applied when it's clear that sugar, gelatin, and other ingredients involved in the product are in no way related to, or contain, fat.

Ironically, the "asbestos-free" disclaimer could also cause a customer to distrust the product on the grounds of damning by faint praise—if the best thing they can say about a product is that it doesn't contain a toxic building material, do we really want to know what actually is in this stuff?

The claim in the title text—that the product has no swine flu—is equally superfluous, as any food product containing disease-causing viruses would be subject to recalls, severe fines, and quite a few people losing their jobs; the fact that the product is actually on a supermarket shelf implies that it already has a stellar reputation for not causing serious illness. The use of it here could also be a reference to 574: Swine Flu.

Modified the above to switch the example from "cholesterol" to "fat". The statement:

A more realistic example can be found in various fruit- and vegetable-based foods that advertise themselves as "cholesterol-free," which is exactly what we would expect since cholesterol is only found in animals in nature.

is false as plants do contain small amounts of cholesterol, although they tend to rely more on phytosterols for cellular function rather than cholesterol which animals rely upon (see Cholesterol:Physiology). For clarification, the term "cholesterol free" applies when there exists less than 2mg of cholesterol per serving (see FDA CFR Title 21 Subpart D 101.62, under (c)Fatty acid content claims). Thokling (talk) 12:02, 29 September 2013 (UTC)

Why is there just a random mention of redfarm and staypuft? --108.162.215.58 00:19, 11 May 2015 (UTC)

Is GenCo a reference to GeneCo from Repo: A Genetic Opera? 108.162.221.117 (talk) (please sign your comments with ~~~~)

I took "GenCo" and the ring symbol (Ⓞ in the transcript) as a reference to Cheerios, made by General Mills. --Tepples (talk) 21:34, 25 June 2015 (UTC)

Or it could just be short for Generic company. -Pennpenn 108.162.250.162 06:01, 26 June 2015 (UTC)

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